Activists of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Congress staged separate protests against the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Andhra Pradesh, ‘after reneging on the promises made to the State on the eve of bifurcation.

TDP youth wing workers led by their leader Sk. Karimullah blocked vehicular traffic on the arterial Chennai-Kolkata highway for some time and broke empty mud pots in protest against the ‘meagre allocation made for construction of the State capital’ after promising to develop Amaravati into a world-class capital on par with New Delhi in grandeur.

Congress activists led by its Prakasam district president Eda Sudhakar Reddy burnt the effigy of the Prime Minister alleging that the NDA had made light of the assurances given in the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act.

Raw deal

“The Congress, if voted to power at the Centre, AICC president Rahul Gandhi will sign the first file related to according Special Category Status (SCS) to the State,” Mr. Sudhakar Reddy added.

The Prakasam district should be included in the list of backward districts as per the State Reorganisation Act, party’s State official Spokesman Eluri Ramachandra Rao said, while leading a protest at Markapur after paying floral tributes to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi near the Clock Tower Centre.

At Yerragondapalem, MLA P. David Raju led a big rally taken out by TDP workers asking the Prime Minister to ‘go back’ alleging that the State was meted out a raw deal during the NDA government’s tenure.